Daniel Ruf

Looking for Spring

The "The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it!" Ansel Adams

It's tiring to slosh my way through deep winter, then winter warmup, then almost out of winter, then hello winter, then almost spring, then WHERE IS SPRING! And that's exactly where we are right now in NW Iowa, knowing full well that we could see another freeze......or maybe even the flakes.

So, I'm looking for reminders of Spring or something close as I'm bored to death with pale grass, snow piles holding on and winds from hell. 

My files and files of images are always and uplift for downer times. Looking at them I can remember where I was and how it was. The image above brings back a foggy morning as I let my Boston Whaler float closer and closer to the subject as I point my 70 - 200mm canon lens toward the sunrise while steering with the other eye. Timing and place can make all the difference. If I were on dry land with my camera the scene maybe totally different and not as thrilling. We saw morning here in the lakes area when there was heavy fog around one lake and little around another. Treacherous driving and guessing became the "compass" of the morning.

 

The edges of the lakes are just starting to open along with the hope of Spring. Hunting for Pasque Flowers at a local preserve is the beginning of opening the mind to Spring. Missing this by just a few days can mean the difference from a clear sharp looking flower to dull limp petals.

Enjoy the coming Spring and thanks for following my blog site.

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Transitions

"Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountains and sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.  John Lubbock

It seems like the transition from autumn to winter has happened at least three times here in Northwest Iowa. We have seen the East Okoboji Lake surface freeze at least 4 times and each time the ice succumbs to another warming system that passes through for a week or so at a time. We've had about 3 inches of snow which has also disappeared leaving more leaves to collect, which I hope I've done for the last time this year.

The blog image is a morning a couple of weeks ago showing the ice retreating and the sunrise glowing. This has been a year of many glowing sunrises and sunsets and I presume it's largely the result of the western forest fires which have resulted in days and days of haze over the landscape.

This image was captured with my Canon 5D Mark IV using the HDR process in camera. The editing processes started in Lightroom with finishing touches in Photoshop CC, which mainly was focused on brightening the shoreline landscape.

Thank you for joining me here and I hope you have a marvelous Thanksgiving. Stay safe, use your mask and be aware of social distancing. I'm sure we are all tired of hearing the well meant warning, but when I'm out in public it seems that there is a certain deafness to caution by many.

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Morning Lights

    

"Photography is about putting the pieces together." Daniel Ruf

This morning was all about patience and putting the pieces together. I changed positions several times, yet as I walked away to my truck to leave for home I turned and found this setup.  My last position was about 10 feet to the left. We can have the best lenses and camera money can buy, but if you don't move your feet you might miss the best shot of the day.

This blog image was taken with my handheld iPhone and its wide angle lens. The clouds and rocks demanded the wide angle approach and both subjects compliment each other. 

While I was driving in search of the right spot for the sunrise at 4:30 a.m. and using "The Photographer's Ephemeris" app I came to this lakeshore spot and realized that the sunrise was less important than the nice cloud formation that was taking place. 

The black and white version.

 

It's continues to be a learning journey no matter how old you might be.

Thanks for visiting

Thank you for dropping by...go plant another tree

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Entering From Stage Right!

"Great Photography is about depth of feeling not depth of field." Peter Adams

I've spent a lot of mornings waiting for a sunrises, not knowing for sure what the outcome will be, but always with hope for a surprise. There have been a few occasions when Mother Nature adds a significant tune that I wasn't expecting, such as the duck showing up with perfect timing. I'll take these circumstances any way I can get them.

Just when I posted the above blog image I noticed a distraction that I missed in the processing of this image. That distraction would be that buoy left of center. Rather than replace or correct the infraction I thought I'd use it as a lesson.

The change is subtle, but the duck is now the center attraction as opposed to the confusion of the buoy near the horizon. It may be a little thing to many, but removal of distractions either by changing the camera position or software editing is essential to make the story clear and without distractions. It's always a good idea to check the edges of an image for little distractions as well. I use Photoshop CC in most of my work and a Canon 5D Mark IV, which I still love. Lightroom is the first order of editing and Photoshop does the rest, including clean up. I used Topaz AI Denoise to rid the picture of the noise as I had to use a high ISO to achieve the shutter speed to stop the ducks movement. With that being said it's necessary to realize that using multiple editing processes takes a certain bit of balance in the handling. No matter the choice of editing processes used they all seem to leave "artifacts" if not used with a light hand. It's taken me a long time to learn this and, at times, it seems I'm still learning.

Thanks for visiting and enjoy the beautiful Spring weather

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Another Icon Gone!

"My father kept me busy from dawn to dusk when I was a kid. When I wasn't pitching hay, hauling corn or running a tractor, I was heaving a baseball into his mitt behind the barn...It all the parents in the country followed his rule, juvenile delinquency would be cut in half in a year's time." Bob Feller

One by one those great icons of the rural landscape are disappearing one after another. The old barns, corn cribs, hog houses and sheds are sliding off into the sunset. Before long Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio will be some of the only states where a person can still be able to see those treasured icons still in use. Here in Iowa they're being replaces by large steel buildings. To me metal buildings have little aesthetic value when it comes to photography. Most barns are different as a structure. There use determines the structural makeup, be it a dairy barn, hog barn, or cattle barn.

There are stories in those barns that you may pass by everyday if you live in rural America. Children grew up in those tall broad structures. My kids all had chores before and after school. Whether it was my young daughter bottle feeding calves, or my sons feeding livestock or mending fences. A lot of times they even hired out to other farmers to bale hay during their summer vacation.

All barns have stories to tell a Photographer or any other artist. The structure, the landscape all play into the final results of this cold winter day with an aging barn in the background and a painted morning sky.

I love 'em, and I miss 'em.

Thanks for visiting

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Wild Weeks

"There's never on sunrise the same or one sunset the same." Carlos Santana

This last couple of weeks the sunrises and sunsets have been really over the top for color. The above scene is an East Lake morning that started really slow and dull and then went on steroids. I'm not sure what atmospheric conditions are creating these phenomena, but it has been entertaining.

The docks are out and the geese are headed south, except for those that seem to find a hole in the ice and stay through the winter.  The weather has been such that the lakes have been covered with thin ice off and on with the warming spells. It's really been an unusual autumn for us.

Thanks for visiting and have a great Thanksgiving

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

Gifts Of Early Rising

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart." Helen Keller

Things are beginning to get that end of autumn dull look and the only way to solve this dull colorless time of the season, in my opinion, is to join your camera for some early morning and late evening shooting. While the above image may, just may seem to be over saturated it actually was just another one of those stunning mornings in Northwest Iowa.  A small stream for reflection and a crack in the sky and mother nature takes care of the rest. Even a light frost was present to bounce some of the reflective light into my camera. In the beginning (I arrived in the dark) as the sky started to show some light, things didn't look too promising. As with many things in life...waiting and patience paves the way to surprising results.

Thanks for visiting my blog site as winter has a grip on us in NW Iowa at the moment. I have just recently started exhibiting work in the members gallery at Arts On Grand in Spencer, Iowa.  If you're close make a visit.  If not..keep coming to my blog!

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center - lakesart.org 

Arts On Grand - artsongrand.org

 

 

Flexing Muscles

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.
Edward Abbey

The far left cloud in this picture was way outside of the view finder when I first started watching the cloud just ahead. Gradually the two came into the wide angle frame and I suddenly my imagination decided it was like two guys trying to out muscle each other.  A few minutes after this shot things started to get a little noisy and I thought it best to get home in one piece.

If you're in the area of Spirit Lake, Iowa don't forget to join me at the opening of my photography exhibit at the Pearson Lakes Art Center in Okoboji, Iowa.

Thanks for stopping by.

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center  lakesart.org 

500px.com

Facebook - Daniel Ruf Photography  

Happy 4th

If you are in a beautiful place where you can enjoy sunrise and sunset, then you are living like a lord.  Nathan Phillips

Every Forth of July I am reminded of the heroes that both fought for our country against the British and other wars as well as put together a sound foundation for the birth of a new country, the United States Of America.  I was even more delighted this morning when our neighbors across the street took their family out on their pontoon boat with flags waving and their talented grandson began playing the Star Spangled Banner on his trumpet as they floated along the lake. This still is America!

Today also reminded me that I have 27 days until Art In The Park (August 3) and 42 days until the opening of my exhibit at the Pearson Lakes Art Center (PLAC)  in Okoboji, Iowa (August 15, Gallery Talk 5-7pm).  I started planning, printing and framing over a month ago as my wife was saying, "isn't this a little early?"  Not so much as I've already had some issues with an order of metal frames and I knew I had 2 weeks of "family entertainment" to fit into the schedule.  The family entertainment was more enjoyable, the frame issues...not so much.

The blog image is one that will find its way into the PLAC exhibit as well as about 40+ others if I get my way. The title of the show is "The Eloquence Of Light" and will be a personal visual dialogue about light over the last couple of years. While I realize that light is the major element in photography I do believe that, for me, a subconscious dialog is going on when I'm looking for or watching light that surrounds me. Being in a lakes region of Iowa even has more opportunity of working with light when reflections get involved.

My biggest issue with having the almost back to back events of the Art In The Park and PLAC exhibit is that I have less than two weeks to "reprocess" work that is sold at the park venue.

The PLAC is one of the sparkling jewels that makes up the lakes area.  It not only is a facility that promotes incredible gallery art by many artists from around the country, but also has a stunning collection of art that includes work by the Wyeth family as well as other familiar artists. If music is your thing there is a running selection of musical entertainment throughout the summer. To round out the events PLAC also has workshops for both adults and children.

Have a safe 4th and enjoy the weekend.

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center  lakesart.org 

500px.com

Facebook - Daniel Ruf Photography  

 

Spring, Sprang, Sprung

You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.Ansel Adams

The title is reference to the fact that while Spring has come to Northwest Iowa, we had some snowflakes come through with a wintery system this morning. So, temporarily, Spring has Sprung!

Have been enjoying shooting in the warmer conditions of the past week and happen to come upon this scene at Garlock Slough, near Milford, Iowa.  I will be glad when the trees fill in and the lakes fill up with with the summer crowd and the gallery traffic picks up.

I'm in the countdown mode for the Pearson Lakes Art Center "Art In The Park", August 3, and the opening for my exhibit at the Pearson Lakes Art Center, August 15 .  While it seems early, I know the dates are going to sneak up on me if I don't put the "peddle to the metal", so to speak. My fear is that what I sell at the art in the park session will have to be replaced in time for the Pearson show, which has me a little rattled, but I didn't think it was wise to pass up one for the other.

Hope you all are enjoying Spring. Thanks for the visit.

Places to see more of Daniel's work:

Pearson Lakes Art Center  lakesart.com 

500px.com

Facebook - Daniel Ruf Photography